Food Preparations For At Least A Year

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I'm trying to prepare in case the Yellowstone volcano blows. I'm not sure for how long I need food. I want to stock pile a little here and there with each pay check. What are some good emergency foods that will last a long time that will feed 6 for at least a year?

I'm not even sure how long the darkness will last with a super volcano eruption or if a years worth of rations is even remotely close to what I need. I've looked at some of those food buckets and the problem with those are they are sealed in large pouches that are not resealable and I'd need about 100 or more of them for 6 people for a year minimum. Are MREs the way to go? What's a good value and economical?

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I'm trying to prepare in case the Yellowstone volcano blows. I'm not sure for how long I need food. I want to stock pile a little here and there with each pay check. What are some good emergency foods that will last a long time that will feed 6 for at least a year?

I'm not even sure how long the darkness will last with a super volcano eruption or if a years worth of rations is even remotely close to what I need. I've looked at some of those food buckets and the problem with those are they are sealed in large pouches that are not resealable and I'd need about 100 or more of them for 6 people for a year minimum. Are MREs the way to go? What's a good value and economical?

I think that takes care of my questions for now. TIA!

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In my opinion you would be better off purchasing dry foods such as beans, peas, cut oats, barley, lentils, etc. You can make your own ships biscuit & they last for ages, as does dried meat/jerky. Stock your pantry with foods you like to eat, including canned foods/fruit. Use these stores & replace as you go, this will keep them turning over & they won't go past their use by date. Don't forget about water storage!
PS. Have you introduced yourself on the forum yet? I don't recall seeing it.
Keith.

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i'm not a lover of military MRE's, the ones I have eaten leave a lot to be desired but that's just my opinion.
I have about a weeks worth of dry camping food, can be eaten straight from the packet or heated up, I have these just in case I need to keep a low profile and cannot cook anything.
generally speaking whatever food you decide to stockpile remember to " store what you eat and eat what you store" and "rotate, rotate, rotate"- eat the oldest item first and replace with fresh.

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What you stockpile will also be dictated by whether you are a decent cook or a ready meal type of person. It will depend on whether you have knowledge of hunting and foraging to help your stores last.
Think! Will you need vitamin supplements? Water purification chemicals? Medicines?
Check the shelf life and storage conditions of everything that you're thinking of buying and as LW suggested "rotate" out old stock before it's bbe date and replace it. You can't just buy the stuff and say "job done, now I will survive the Holocaust" it is an ongoing process to control your stock of goods.
You will need to provide 1500 to 2500 Calories per person per day, depending on how active you are likely to be. (Less active=less calories) Balance your meals between protein, carbohydrates (in the form of fats, sugars and fibre) and not forgetting vitamins and minerals

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In my opinion you would be better off purchasing dry foods such as beans, peas, cut oats, barley, lentils, etc. You can make your own ships biscuit & they last for ages, as does dried meat/jerky. Stock your pantry with foods you like to eat, including canned foods/fruit. Use these stores & replace as you go, this will keep them turning over & they won't go past their use by date. Don't forget about water storage!
PS. Have you introduced yourself on the forum yet? I don't recall seeing it.
Keith.

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What Keith said

Only thing I'll add is that if you put dried beans, pasta (we like the tiny macaroni), rice, already dry foods like this into sealed jars, before putting the lid on, throw in one or two deoxygenizing packs. Seal up Kool-Aid packs and sugar also. Don't forget water purifiers -- both charcoal and ceramic filters (Katadyn).

Look into powdered milk, powdered cheese, "other" foods for balanced diet. Dehydrated fruits would be a healthy addition. The Latter Day Saint Church folk are friends to make. They put back food for a year, many do. They have food packing centers where your LDS friends might take you; it's worth a try. You may find their beliefs odd, however the people don't seem to be. I've had a few LDS friends over the years. They don't bite. All world religions speak of the End-Times, new Prophet showing up, calamities, Earth changes, wars, all that mayhem stuff.

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The other great thing about having friends amongst the CoJC&TLDSts is you'll save on sharing your beer.
They were some of the very first people to respond to major disasters like Katrina, making the State and Federal authorities look completely incompetent.

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I lived in Utah for a year and am all too familiar with Mormons. LOL Though, I am not.

The Yellowstone super volcano has been on my mind for a long time, and we just don't know when the hell it will go off. But I do know it's over due. Knowing my luck and in my lifetime it will go off. I'm now 37 so I gotta about 43 more years to go if I'm lucky. Wouldn't mind seeing tri-centennial in 2076, but that places me at 95 years old. Doubt I'll make it that long.

Where do y0u buy your dry goods? And how do I know how many calories they have? During what I'm preparing for we'd probably be pretty sedentary so 1500 calories per person is what I'm aiming for.

I have heard that about 2/3 of the U.S. will become inhabitable, and there won't be deer or anything either. Not even fish since the ash will, pollute the water. So water storage is going to be a major issue. I do plan on buying a bunch of those Lifestraws though.

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I lived in Utah for a year and am all too familiar with Mormons. LOL Though, I am not.

The Yellowstone super volcano has been on my mind for a long time, and we just don't know when the hell it will go off. But I do know it's over due. Knowing my luck and in my lifetime it will go off. I'm now 37 so I gotta about 43 more years to go if I'm lucky. Wouldn't mind seeing tri-centennial in 2076, but that places me at 95 years old. Doubt I'll make it that long.

Where do y0u buy your dry goods? And how do I know how many calories they have? During what I'm preparing for we'd probably be pretty sedentary so 1500 calories per person is what I'm aiming for.

I have heard that about 2/3 of the U.S. will become inhabitable, and there won't be deer or anything either. Not even fish since the ash will, pollute the water. So water storage is going to be a major issue. I do plan on buying a bunch of those Lifestraws though.

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I live in Australia, we purchase our dry foods from the supermarket. When I was a kid in England, there was a dry goods store with sacks of everything. They would sell you any amount you wanted, large or small.
Keith.

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You can buy dry goods in the USA from commercial supply warehouses for a lot less if you are wanting it in volume. I worked in one of those when I was young and was amazed at how cheap things were when you bought it in 50 or 100 pound bags. A lot of things that you buy in stores in small fancy packages are priced higher because the package cost more than the contents.

When you hear the saying about something being packed in like sardines... sardines are packed tight because they are the cheapest part of the package. The oil cost more than the sardines and the can costs more than the sardines. I worked for Consolidated foods for five years and got an education in the value of buying in quantity packaging. When I worked there I bought cheese in 20 pound waxed chubs for about a third per pound of what it costs in the stores.

A hundred pound sack each of rice, pinto beans, popcorn, whole wheat, and a few 50 pound bags of flour, cornmeal and baking mix along with 5 gallons of lard and 10 gallons of peanut oil will feed a lot of people for a long long time. I also usually have a few hundred pounds of shelled deer corn that can be used as animal feed or after running it through a grinder people feed. at 14 dollar for a hundred pounds it is supper cheap food that can be used in a lot of ways along with baiting deer.

Don't forget the spices. A few hundred pounds of salt and a few gallons of pepper and such can make the uneatable eatable. Being raised in South East Texas I also consider hot tabasco sauce a staple and buy it in gallons. I'm serious about my peppers and raise my own and will be able to make my spices from those plants and a large herb garden. Spices are not a must but there is a reason Columbus was trying to find a shorter path to the spices from Eastern Asia. That reason was spices. The Roman soldiers were paid in salt. If you don't live near the coast you probably need to think about salt.

Another valuable tool is a BIG smoker that has sausage racks and the tools for butchering and making sausage and smoked meats. Mine will smoke a hundred pounds at a whack and isn't a really big one. Hand powered meat and grain grinders are worth their weight in gold in hard times as are really big cast iron pots. I have a couple of cast iron wash pots that are huge and we used them for making and canning soups and such. With the beans grains and such all you need is to get meat and you are fed. A woodburning stove makes a nice porch heater now and then will cook for you if you ever need it too. I also have rocket stoves for that too after the various petrochemical powered fuels are gone. We may not eat fancy but we will never be hungry.

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You can buy dry goods in the USA from commercial supply warehouses for a lot less if you are wanting it in volume. I worked in one of those when I was young and was amazed at how cheap things were when you bought it in 50 or 100 pound bags. A lot of things that you buy in stores in small fancy packages are priced higher because the package cost more than the contents.

When you hear the saying about something being packed in like sardines... sardines are packed tight because they are the cheapest part of the package. The oil cost more than the sardines and the can costs more than the sardines. I worked for Consolidated foods for five years and got an education in the value of buying in quantity packaging. When I worked there I bought cheese in 20 pound waxed chubs for about a third per pound of what it costs in the stores.

A hundred pound sack each of rice, pinto beans, popcorn, whole wheat, and a few 50 pound bags of flour, cornmeal and baking mix along with 5 gallons of lard and 10 gallons of peanut oil will feed a lot of people for a long long time. I also usually have a few hundred pounds of shelled deer corn that can be used as animal feed or after running it through a grinder people feed. at 14 dollar for a hundred pounds it is supper cheap food that can be used in a lot of ways along with baiting deer.

Don't forget the spices. A few hundred pounds of salt and a few gallons of pepper and such can make the uneatable eatable. Being raised in South East Texas I also consider hot tabasco sauce a staple and buy it in gallons. I'm serious about my peppers and raise my own and will be able to make my spices from those plants and a large herb garden. Spices are not a must but there is a reason Columbus was trying to find a shorter path to the spices from Eastern Asia. That reason was spices. The Roman soldiers were paid in salt. If you don't live near the coast you probably need to think about salt.

Another valuable tool is a BIG smoker that has sausage racks and the tools for butchering and making sausage and smoked meats. Mine will smoke a hundred pounds at a whack and isn't a really big one. Hand powered meat and grain grinders are worth their weight in gold in hard times as are really big cast iron pots. I have a couple of cast iron wash pots that are huge and we used them for making and canning soups and such. With the beans grains and such all you need is to get meat and you are fed. A woodburning stove makes a nice porch heater now and then will cook for you if you ever need it too. I also have rocket stoves for that too after the various petrochemical powered fuels are gone. We may not eat fancy but we will never be hungry.

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Thanks for this Tex, I had forgotten about buying in bulk, my wife just recieved a bulk delivery of flour
Keith.

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wouldn't it have been easier just to say Mormons and then we'd all know what your talking about?

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Actually, I'm LDS. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I can honestly say we prefer to be called LDS rather than Mormons. Mormons is just a nickname that others gave us. Back in the day, it was derogatory. People who hated us called us that.

That said, I agree with what's been said in regards to preparation. Yes, there are a lot of LDS that run preparedness sites, unfortunately if you just ask any LDS person, that doesn't guarantee that they'll know where to get prepping supplies, unless they're a prepper themselves.

How much to prepare? Because everyone eats different amounts, I say calculate how much you use per meal. Say you had green beans for dinner. How much did you make for your entire family? Then you figure out how often you eat green beans. Then, you use that to calculate how much dried green beans you'll need (or whatever format).

Same thing for flour. How much flour do you need to bake bread? How much bread do you go through in a week? (If you don't bake bread, now's the time to start doing so so that you can calculate how much you need. How much wheat do you use for other things? Then, calculate it to how often you'll be using it over a years span, and you'll know how much you'll need.

Of course, I always say err on the side of caution and add a little extra, just in case, and to make sure you don't under calculate.

Dried may be best, but there are also canned goods. That might be a bit easier. Say, you open a can of green beans, how often each month do you eat it? How many cans? Add a little extra. That's how much you'll need per month.

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A couple of other things that I buy and store a lot of is those little canned hams and Spam. They make things like beans and soups taste better and add a ton of calories. Since I live in Texas and we have a lot of Hispanics there are a lot of things available here that you don't see everywhere. There is a soap that is called Zoot Soap that is basically a snow white commercially made lye soap. You can wash ANYTHING with it and even grate it for use in a washing machine. LOL, it also makes a pretty good catfish bait since it is mostly made for grease they like it. Here it is dirt cheap but I see it online sometimes marked up about 500%. We also have cheap access to things like Masa which is a fine flour made from corn and a lot of Mexican foods like black beans that are super good for survival use because they are higher in content than most other beans.

One of the things that people need to understand is that the food you buy from the stores, whether it is fresh or canned, is there because it is cheaper to grow and/or ships better than other tastier and more nutritious similar foods. Tomatoes are an especially good example of this. We grow a lot of heritage plants that you never see in stores. Bloody Butcher tomatoes are exceptional as is their corn. The thing is it is thin skinned and doesn't ship well so you never see it. The Black Krim is another heritage tomato that we grow and once you get used to eating a black tomato the flavor is incredible. The thing about heritage plants is that their seeds are viable and you only have to buy them once and can gather your own seed there after.

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Actually, I'm LDS. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I can honestly say we prefer to be called LDS rather than Mormons. Mormons is just a nickname that others gave us. Back in the day, it was derogatory. People who hated us called us that.

That said, I agree with what's been said in regards to preparation. Yes, there are a lot of LDS that run preparedness sites, unfortunately if you just ask any LDS person, that doesn't guarantee that they'll know where to get prepping supplies, unless they're a prepper themselves.

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I have several LDS friends and they have access to a lot of great things that are not available to everyone. They have a cannery not too far from here and you can go there and work and can your stuff as part of a share system that is GREAT. You also have people available with decades of experience to help you learn and how to keep and rotate your goods. In the event of a massive system wide break down the LDS will be well set to come through while most others will starve to death. They also are automatically a part of a group that is by nature well suited for working together during hard times. If I was going to be a part of any organized faith based just on its worth and not its philosophy LDS would be at the top of my list. Another group that has proven their worth down through the many years are the Freemasons. They are good about taking care of their own in hard times.

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I have several LDS friends and they have access to a lot of great things that are not available to everyone. They have a cannery not too far from here and you can go there and work and can your stuff as part of a share system that is GREAT. You also have people available with decades of experience to help you learn and how to keep and rotate your goods. In the event of a massive system wide break down the LDS will be well set to come through while most others will starve to death. They also are automatically a part of a group that is by nature well suited for working together during hard times. If I was going to be a part of any organized faith based just on its worth and not its philosophy LDS would be at the top of my list. Another group that has proven their worth down through the many years are the Freemasons. They are good about taking care of their own in hard times.

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My understand is people can still by from the cannery, whether or not they belong to my religion. At least, when I lived in Kansas, that was the case. Perhaps it's not that way in other regions.

That's cool that the freemasons take care of themselves.

What do you think about the Amish? They live a pretty self sufficient lifestyle. Do you think they'd make it through?

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The Amish and many of the other odder faiths that reject a lot of the modern ways will probably do well if they can adapt and defend what they have.

Freemasonry in America is/was a little different from its European roots. It along with the Oddfellows and the Woodsmen were more middle and lower class than in Europe where it was more often a richer persons club. The big thing they all did was insure that if a man died that his wife and children would be looked out for. Even today their public focus is in hospitals and programs that take care of children, widows and older Masonic people.

Nowadays people can buy insurance where in the US until the middle 20th century you had to depend on your brothers both from blood and heart to care for their widows and kids. With the advent of insurance and the disappearance of honor being important the Masonic lodge is struggling and will probably go down the road of the Oddfellows and Woodsmen in another generation or two. The world is now run by and for the benefit of women and minorities and honor is an alien concept to them. I was raised to believe that a mans word was his bond and you NEVER broke a promise. Women were raise with the rule that a woman could always change her mind without penalty and lets face it a slave couldn't afford honor if he wanted to survive and so for many it was never taught to their kids even after they were free.

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Rice, beans, and greens. You won't die. Throw in a bit of meat when available -- you'll be fine.
We used to mix poke greens with curly mustard; throw in some streaked meat.
Find a food supplier to Asian restaurants. I did. These folk will sell your burlap bags of rice. You got American dollar, they'll weigh-down your pickup with rice.
You can find at least 25lb. bags of dried beans most everywhere.
Remember to store in quart glass canning jars with 2 packs of O2 absorbers inside.

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We store and use a lot of dry food stuffs. Also use a dehydrator during the summer when the garden and fruit trees are producing more than we can handle.
Last month, we purchased a Harvest Right freeze dryer and have kept it going almost full time. Next year, our new orchard should be producing more fruit and much of it will go into the freeze dryer. It has been fun.

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Hi. I just finished canned goods marked 2009/2010. So, now I'm on 2012 year.
Don't make the mistake of actually believing those best by dates.
My problem is that I don't eat a lot of canned foods. I cook...every day.
My stockpile began with a case of green beans and my 'program' was...what did I use today that I can stockpile and it has a long shelf life??

First thirty minutes of my day was first...soap, washcloths, tooth paste/toothbrush, toilet paper, hair brush....and that's just the bathroom!!!
I did this for a few weeks, progressing through the day, breakfast needs, cleaning needs, etc,...made a list...and husband and I fulfilled that list that weekend.
When I finished, I had 5 or more years of food and lots of preps.
But, I had 4 bedrooms and only used two, so had lots of room, and a storage room with this house.
I didn't rush--worked on it daily.

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Ok, this is going to be controversial but it needs to be said. The expiration dates on foods and medicines are mostly legal statements rather than nutritional or actual statements of fact. They have several reasons for the expiration dates and none of them actually have much to do with the actual reality of the useful life expectancy of the products.

The first thing that they want to insure is that if someone does get food poisoning from their product that they can't be nailed in court for some sort of negligence. The expiration date is based on the absolutely WORST possible conditions and then the time is cut in half or more. If they have an expiration date of a year you can probably bet that you can put it out in the sun for that year and still be safe. If on the other hand you store it in a cool, dry amd dark place the usable life will be massively extended.

The Government recently did an in depth study having to do with the REAL shelf life of properly stored drugs as compared to the manufacturer's recommended expiration dates. They found that the drugs would last as long as ten times the recommended lengths of time as the recommended before there was a 10% decrease in potency.

The second factor in the expiration date is that they don't want you to hold onto their products. They want you to throw them away and buy new ones as often as possible. They don't make a lot of effort to be realistic.

The truth is that if something is canned correctly and stored in a cool dry dark place the danger of getting poisoned is extremely minimal. What suffers most is the taste and then some of the nutritional value. If anything starts to ferment and grow in a can it will swell up. NEVER even open a can that has swollen up. If it smells bad throw it away. Take a small taste and swish it around in your mouth. If it tastes sour or bitter spit it out and throw it away. If it looks good, smells good and tastes good then cook it and eat it.

I'm not talking about what you do NOW. Canned food is too cheap to take much of a chance on in normal situations BUT in a TEOTWAWKI situation you can't afford to waste resources that are 99% probably fine.

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We store and use a lot of dry food stuffs. Also use a dehydrator during the summer when the garden and fruit trees are producing more than we can handle.
Last month, we purchased a Harvest Right freeze dryer and have kept it going almost full time. Next year, our new orchard should be producing more fruit and much of it will go into the freeze dryer. It has been fun.

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Great example of one way to put back food for the future.

This plus clean water / purified water and you are protected against famine.

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Hi. I just finished canned goods marked 2009/2010. So, now I'm on 2012 year.
Don't make the mistake of actually believing those best by dates.
My problem is that I don't eat a lot of canned foods. I cook...every day.
My stockpile began with a case of green beans and my 'program' was...what did I use today that I can stockpile and it has a long shelf life??

First thirty minutes of my day was first...soap, washcloths, tooth paste/toothbrush, toilet paper, hair brush....and that's just the bathroom!!!
I did this for a few weeks, progressing through the day, breakfast needs, cleaning needs, etc,...made a list...and husband and I fulfilled that list that weekend.
When I finished, I had 5 or more years of food and lots of preps.
But, I had 4 bedrooms and only used two, so had lots of room, and a storage room with this house.
I didn't rush--worked on it daily.

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Two observations on two topics that F22 started with:

First, if the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts (as it did approx 0.5M, 1.3M and 2.1M years ago), it will be a global event on par with extinction of the dinosaurs and most life in North America will end, as well as much life elsewhere on the planet. An eruption of such magnitude will put thousands of times more ash in the atmosphere than the Mount St Helens eruption in 1980, and MSH was measured (via scientific instruments) globally as its ash cloud enveloped the planet in within two weeks (although not thick enough to cause issues like sustained temperature drops). Hardly worth trying to prepare for, however, that doesn't mean that food storage in general is unnecessary. There are other survivable threats, and with almost infinitely higher probabilities of happening than Yellowstone, so save now, and worry about exactly why you need to save later. Even if nothing bad ever happens, I suspect you'll still be eating food in good times.

Second, as I've also recently started down this path (recognizing a need to store food, specific reasons not withstanding) and having an interest in nutritional content, the most discouraging factor I've seen across MREs, canned food, and freeze dried prepared meals (e.g. Mountain House) is high sodium content. I believe that anyone expecting to last a year on these foods will end the year in questionable health. Likewise, prepared meals (MH, Augason, Wise, Chef's Banquet, Patriot, Valley, Emergency Essentials, Thrive, Food Insurance, Honeyville, and on and on) have too many highly processed ingredients and near-zero protein. It's frequently bleached wheat pasta dishes and meat "flavored" sauces, soups, or stews. If you're interested in freeze dried, stick to whole foods, as you can buy every type of whole fruit, vegetable, and meat and then create your own meals. The ideas offered by others here about dried food are great because they are both both cost effective and real food (beans, oats, peas, barley, etc). And even better to can your own, as you know what's in it. For me, time and space point to storing freeze dried, but its been very disappointing seeing how much of what's offered commercially is not fit to be eaten for longer than a weekend camping trip.

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very disappointing seeing how much of what's offered commercially is not fit to be eaten for longer than a weekend camping trip. I hear you , lots of carbs, little protein , but it is cheap to buy , i have 200lbs of this stuff , hope i never have to use it. but it is better than nothing, also i can augment it with real fruit and veg and wild game and fish .

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As we have improved in our understanding of genetics one of the things that has popped up is the fact that somewhere about 50,000 years ago something almost wiped out the human species. At that point in time forward all humans were the progeny of no more than 5000 people.

The current most likely theory has to do with a period of volcanism that occured about then. There is some discussion that this was connected to a possible asteroid strike. It seems that when a big rock hits one side of the planet the shock wave passes through our liquid core and causes a massive volcanic eruption on the other side. They now find that after the Dinosaur killer hit in the Yucatan in the Caribbean and there were HUGE lava flows at about the same time in Siberia.

If Yellowstone were to do a total blow there would be no real chance of surviving anywhere within a thousand miles. You would be buried in ash. Then there would be years of darkness and cold followed by acid rain that would strip most of the plant life down to nothing. Long term survival by individuals will be mostly more by luck than planning. There are national bunkers in most nations that will allow the special chosen few to go underground and hopefully insure the survival of the species.

My efforts are towards things that I feel I can probably survive if I am prepared for it and strong. World class extinction events just can't be prepared for by individual people of norman financial means. Some will probably survive but it will be the odd group that is in some special place that might survive.

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TexDanm and Ystranc, you both make excellent points that brings us slight off-topic. Prepping is a lifestyle choice just like any other that people make. But it's never a guarantee of success. No different than saving instead of spending, it doesn't prevent you from being hit by a bus before you get the chance to enjoy your reward. But especially shortsighted are the billionaires who buy million dollar bunkers or land in New Zealand. The expectation that they will have time to evacuate to either is really delusional, so at best we can thank them for spending their money and keeping the economy moving in those local areas.

A recent forum held by tech millionaires (I'm not one of them, darn it, so only repeating what was written about it secondhand) to discuss global affairs, investments, and technology eventually got around to coping with SHTF. Apparently the hot topic was how to maintain the loyalty of your workers (none of them will get their own hands dirty killing a chicken or an intruder) when money (and gold!) become worthless in a global collapse. No solution was reached, but it certainly highlights the weakness of thinking that money today will buy survival tomorrow.

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I don't think we can call prepping a lifestyle choice, not in the same way as going down the pub, supporting this or that football club, or going to the maldives for your annual holiday, prepping is more than that, its about survival in a serious event, not some trivial social happening.
well it is to me anyway

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Prepping, Survival. being self sufficient...whatever you want to call it is a choice. It is a choice that is going to have effects that will affect your entire lifestyle if in no other way than that your priorities in the way you spend money will be effected to a more or lesser extent. I figure that if I took all the money time and effort that I have put into this I could be living in a small mansion and driving a fancy sports car. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm an extreme case. I like my life and my lifestyle. It for sure isn't for everyone...maybe not many even among preppers.

Your post on the survival book has been deleted, there are boards where this sort of thing can be posted, but we would like to see an introduction from you as a new member, & some other participation before we start seeing a sales pitch.
Keith.

Hi All, by way of introduction, I am an ex policeman, ex military intelligence captain and have been in the security industry for the past thirty years. Hope to chat to like minded people who aren't wearing rose tinted glasses.